On this day: February 19

Rescuers reach the Donner Party, Edison patents the phonograph, the Soviet Union launches the Mir space station, and Fidel Castro resigns as Cuban president, all on this day.

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Library of Congress

1913: Pedro Lascuráin becomes the president of Mexico for less than an hour, making him the world's briefest-serving president ever. Lascuráin was foreign minister for Mexico under President Francisco I. Madero, who was overthrown by Gen. Victoriano Huerta. The coup had also ousted Mexico's vice president and attorney general, making Lascuráin next in line for the presidency under the 1857 Constitution of Mexico. To give his coup some appearance of legality, Huerta had Lascuráin assume the presidency, appoint him as his interior minister -- making Huerta next in line to the presidency -- and then resign.

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